Colleen Baime

An experienced trial lawyer, Colleen has personally tried over a dozen cases to verdict, guiding major corporations through all aspects of high-stakes disputes. She has also served as the supervising trial counsel responsible for developing, directing and approving litigation strategy and the presentation of evidence in over 30 trials.

In addition, Colleen counsels clients in litigation avoidance, risk management, regulatory and product recall compliance, and resolution strategies. She routinely negotiates the favorable resolution of matters using data analytics to drive innovative and advantageous outcomes that reduce transaction costs and avoid the expenditure of trial resources.

Beyond her litigation work, Colleen has also briefed and argued multiple cases to the Illinois appellate courts and briefed appeals to the California courts of appeal.

While in law school, Colleen served as an editor of the Stanford Law & Policy Review and was a member of the Stanford Law Review.

Prior to joining Baker McKenzie, Colleen handled the following matters:

• Secured a defense verdict following a multi-week product liability trial in Los Angeles, California on behalf of a client whose product was alleged to have caused the death of two plaintiffs.

• Supervised the successful defense of the first fully remote multi-week Zoom jury trial to go to verdict in the United States in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Directed the trial team throughout the seven week trial setting litigation strategy, developing defense themes and approving the presentation of evidence. Devised a system and protocol for effectively, seamlessly and persuasively presenting arguments and evidence to the judge and jury over the remote platform.

• Represented multiple former officers of a California public utility in shareholder derivative litigation arising out of 2017 and 2018 wildfires in Northern California.

• Successfully argued appeals to the Fourth District Appellate Court of Illinois regarding the elements necessary to prove civil conspiracy (thereby cutting off a significant docket of pending cases).

• Worked with opposing counsel who historically pursued upwards of 50 civil actions per year against her client to develop a framework for resolution of the claims outside the tort system driving down defense and indemnity costs, streamlining claims analysis, capping the number of claims permitted, and providing the client financial certainty concerning the alleged liability.